It's Happening!

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Our addition has finally had some visible progress. The rainy weather has stopped so work can be done! Today they almost finished framing it.. I am amazed at how fast things happen in construction. Then again, I'm amazed at how SLOW things happen as well :) Mostly permits, paperwork.... kinda like doing an adoption :)

Anyway, we started Spring Break today. Happy dance!! So ready for a break. We are looking forward to Easter and have been talking about all that our Saviour has done for us. It is so cool to see Laurel actually understand it this year. I am so blessed.

Happy Easter. Thank you Lord for saving me!

Cousins & My Knight in Shining Armor

                                                                 Laurel & Duncan

                                                                  Laurel & Eliza

                   

So thankful my babies get to grow up knowing their cousins. I have such great memories with all of mine!
Saturday we attempted to fish (too windy) with Eliza and Laurel gave Duncan his first ride on the 4 wheeler! Good times!
Last night Noah and I went to Chick Fil A's Mother/Son Date "Knight". Such a treat and a joy to see my little gentleman! His Daddy had told him to open the doors for me, bring me flowers and tell me I looked pretty :) He did all of these things.....ladies LOOKOUT!! I had so much fun just laughing and being silly with my boy. Growing up way too fast. I treasure these years.

Hosting an Orphan

 "D" is open, outgoing, kind and nice. This sweet little boy likes to draw and to play soccer and ping pong. If future he will want to become a fireman and to rescue people.

He likes to watch TV, and his favorite movie is “101 Dalmatians”. If he goes to the US he wants to try American ice-cream. He also likes to eat candies and ice-cream.
He is a good friend and he has many friends. ...
He is average student but he is working hard with his home work.
He will like to help and to do different activities.
From our own impression we think that he is a positive and very happy boy.

 She is mature girl and she is a good student. Zoya has an easy going character. She knows some English.

She likes cats, loves to eat fruit, and wants to go swimming this summer.
Her favorite movie is historical movie Roxolana. ...
She likes to work with computer. Also she is fond of birds and embroidery.
At school her favorite subjects are Russian language and biology.
She wants to go to the US and to spend time with a family.
If she has some money she will like to buy a cell phone.

He is a great child with an open heart. He is also very responsible. He was helping us to invite other children for their interview from their class rooms.
He is an average student. His favorite lessons are PE and crafts. ...
He enjoys sports and when he has some free time he likes to play sports and computer games.
In future he wants to become a builder.
He wants to go to the US and to see what family life is. If he comes to the US he wants to see the Statue of Liberty.
He likes animals and his favorite animal is lynx. He will like to see this animal in the zoo while in the U.S.

ANYONE INTERESTED IN HOSTING AN ORPHAN FROM **U** (Same country as Laurel is from) over the summer?? It would change a child's life! Mike & I have been to the meeting and it is a great group of people. Marina's Kids is the organization and these orphans will be hosted in NC. There are about 19 girls and boys who need to be hosted this year. Some are available for adoption, some are not, and this will just be a great trip to show them outside of the orphanage walls and to share the love of Christ to them....most for the first time ever.

Costs are very reasonable. If you are unable to host and want to provide a grant for a child to come over that would we SO WELCOMED as well!! Contact me @ wrensnest01@Hotmail.com with questions or John (NC region director @ 919 538-0811)

                 No pressure. Just a fun summer. You are not committing to adopt by hosting.

Tough Lessons

My sweet souled son had to learn a hard lesson tonite. We returned from our Small group and he pulled 2 things out of his pocket. I could see in his face as soon as he pulled them out and showed them to me that he knew he shouldn't have taken them. I'm not entirely sure he saw it as wrong when he took them which is why the lesson was so tough for him.

Now the funny part is that what he had taken was Daily Bread Bible verses. I asked him why he took them and he said "Because they had good and happy words on them" :) My sweet souled son.

He fell apart. We were so gentle because we knew he was horrified with himself that he had stolen something. He even told me "I did what it said not to do on the wall at church" (a poster in his sunday school class).

Then he had to return them. Yikes! He fell apart again. THANKFULLY he took them from Uncle Jimmy who was so gracious and hugged him and told him he was proud of him and loved him!!

It was such a tough lesson for Noah but a beautiful one that I am so blessed I could teach him. He was so worried that God wouldn't love him anymore and I got to explain forgiveness and grace to him and then help him learn 1John 1:9. We also got silly about how far the east is from the west :)

Shew.... Parenting is hard   heart work! I am so thankful that I can be present to teach my sweet babies these important lessons. Thank you Lord Jesus.

Farm Tour 2013

Playing in the Soybean Meal @ SnowCreekFarms

Learning about AgriTourism @ a Hunting Lodge/Shooting Range

Seeing How Soybeans, Sunflowers & Rape Seeds are turned into meal and Oils
Pretty Neat Stuff!

Laurel watching the cows being milked on the carousel @ Galliher Dairy....she didn't want to leave!

Touring the Purina Fertilizer Plant.. seeing how fertilizers are made and blended.
Who knew?

Cheap Entertainment

Baby Duncan had enough!!

Laurel & Daddy on the wagon @ Lazy 5 Ranch... feeding the animals

She was right at home

Watching how the yogurt drinks, FRUSH, are made. So good!!

Everyone had a taste and loved it!

More Dairy Cows

Seeing how the dairy works

Can u ever see too many pics of baby cows?

Laurel thought he had hearing aids! :)

I was on a roll :)

Rachael & John convinced us to go on a farm tour with them and Farm Bureau this past weekend. We toured about 8 farms in Iredell County, Statesville to be exact, in 2 days...whew!! We had a blast! We saw a stocker operation (beef cattle),  a very hi tech Dairy operation with a milking carousel (the cows love riding it:), a Hunting lodge/shooting range, the Southern States Fertilizer plant (who knew? it was so neat but DUSTY), Lazy 5 Ranch (think petting zoo on steroids), a yogurt factory (where Front Porch ice cream and FRUSH drinkable yogurt is made)**awesome** and another smaller but beautiful dairy farm. I may have forgotten a few in there somewhere.

The farmers were so hospitable and willing to share their ideas on how to make your farm work with today's challenges. They were all family run next generation businesses who had adapted to challenges but were doing great....with ALOT of hard work.

The kids did much better than I expected and throw in the getting up early and the time change, I thought they did fantastic. It's also awesome that for the last 3 weeks, Noah has been doing a study on Farm Life and different farm animals. Score 1 for the homeschool mom. Anyway, I think I could say.... "A good time was had by all" :) Thanks for checking in!!

Oh, and want to hear something absolutely amazing?? Remember the little boy "Kurt" that so many of you gave money towards to help find a mommy & daddy? Well, last week he just went up on the Reeces Rainbow My Family Found me page (www.reecesrainbow.org) !!!! Somebody picked him to be their son!!! PRAISE THE LORD!! I'm not sure who yet, but if I find out their blog I'll let you know. Thanks to you readers (and NANA) Kurt's account went from $230 to $830. I tell you, Hands and Feet of Christ!

Lazarus....Come Forth!

Noah wrapped up as Lazarus

Laurel's Milk Mustache.... Gotta love the morning hair!!

Noah's newest hat

Well, Strep throat has found it's way AGAIN back into my house. Laurel has it for the 2nd time in 1 month! Poor thing. Hopefully her antibiotics will get it all this time around. We had to put Noah back on Reflux med (he's been off for 2 years) because of increasing heartburn etc...
I had to share a God thing that happened at the Dr. today. Our unexpected trip for both kids to the Dr. going to be a nice $50 copay. I got up to the desk to pay and had a mysterious $50 credit on my account! No kidding! I did the happy dance and then was able to praise God to the Receptionist! " And my God shall supply ALL your needs....!"  We are so blessed.

So, we will be taking it easy this week. No school for Laurel tomorrow but Noah won't be so lucky ;)

Oh and to explain the Lazarus pic.... during one of our morning devotions, I read the story of Lazarus to the kids. To make it more real, Laurel and I wrapped Noah up as Lazarus and then called him out! They loved it!